Support stand fixture



Nov. 11, 1969 w, R. GOODRIDGE SUPPORT STAND FIXTURE Filed Nov. 22, 1967 INVENTOR WALTER R. GOOD/W065 FIG KARI. (1).?L0cts ATTORNEY United States Patent SUPPORT STAND FIXTURE Walter R. Goodridge, Greenville, R.I., assignor to Mr. Christmas, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 685,053 Int. Cl. A47g 33/12 US. Cl. 248--44 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fixture for a support stand for supporting Christmas tree trunks, flag staffs, display signs and the like and including a pair of clampingly engaged castings which include opposed leg-clamping sockets formed by overlying, radiating and downwardly directed semi-cylindrical sleeve-like portions and a central depending socket-andsleeve arrangement tightened by an axially disposed wing nut-and-bolt assembly, and in which the upper casting includes an upwardly opening socket for removably receiving the lower end of a tree trunk, flag staff, etc.

During the Christmas season particularly, it is highly desirable to have a readily storable and stable support stand which is readily assembled and disassembled inasmuch as such stands are normally utilized, at the most, approximately one month of the year. On the other hand, support stands of a similar character are highly desirable for supporting flag staffs, parade markers, political convention display signs, etc.

For economy, wooden dowels are used in the construction of artificial Christmas tree support stand legs. The fixture of the present invention integrates these wooden elements. Since wooden dowels may vary in size and/ or are subject to swelling or shrinkage, depending on climate changes, the present invention readily accommodates for such changes. Further, the socket for receiving the simulated tree trunk includes a slight taper which accommodates for different trunk diameters, but also affords a tight wedge action to positively retain the simulated trunk therein. Still further, with the variable-size, split clamp of the novel fixture, in the event the legs become lost during storage, new legs (differing from those originally accompanying the fixture) can be readily and satisfactorily produced.

Primary objects of the present invention are to provide a novel support stand fixture; to provide a novel clamping arrangement for a support stand fixture and more particularly in which the clamping arrangement comprises angular, overlying clamping sleeves radiating downwardly from a socket which includes a clamp shaft-and-sleeve arrangement cooperating with a force transmitting assembly.

These together with other and more specific objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, on a reduced scale, illustrating one use of the novel stand fixture;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the fixture at substantially full scale;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the fixture;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken substantially on the plane of line 44 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the lower casting of the fixture looking substantially from the plane of line 55 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawing, and first considering FIG. 1, the support stand fixture is indicated generally at and clampingly receives therein a plurality of downwardly ice radiating, support legs 12; preferably but not necessarily three legs as shown disposed at intervals.

The stand fixture 10 receives therein the lower end of a shaft, staff or tree trunk 14 of an artificial Christmas tree 16, for example. The legs 12 extend angularly from the stand fixture 10 at arelatively shallow angle, i.e. 30, for example, in order to provide a relatively stable base for the Christmas tree 16 which has a relatively high center of gravity making it relatively unstable since a considerable portion of the tree weight is disposed outwardly and above the stand. Although a particular angular relation of the legs is mentioned above, this is merely by way of example and not by way of limitation.

The stand fixture 10 comprises upper and lower cooperating clamp elements 18 and 20, respectively, which are retained in clamped relationship by a suitable force transmitting means 22. The cooperating clamping elements 18 and 20 preferably comprise castings produced from a suitable metal, plastic, etc.

The upper clamping element 18 comprises a central hub or socket portion 24 including an upwardly opening, slightly upwardly diverging socket 26 which in a sense jammingly receives the staff, shaft, etc. being supported therein. The socket 24 includes a depending shaft portion 28 which is reduced in diameter with respect to the upper portion of the socket 24. The shaft portion 28 includes a transverse bottom wall 30 which has extending therethrough a preferably rectangular aperture 32. Integral with the socket 24 and radiating downwardly and angularly therefrom are equidistantly spaced, semi-cylindrical sleeve portions 34 which open downwardly toward shaft portion 28 and are disposed in spaced relation above the lower end thereof.

The lower clamping element 20 includes a lower cylindrical hub or sleeve 36 having an upwardly opening, fragmentary bore portion 38 complementary to and reciprocably received on the lower end of the shaft portion 28 of the upper clamping element 18, and includes a transverse bottom wall 40 having a central aperture 42 aligned with the square aperture portion 32 of the bottom wall 30 of the upper clamping element 18. Communicating with the lower portion 38 of the lower clamping element 20 are circumferentially disposed, radially extending downwardly angled, semi-cylindrical sleeve portions 44 which open upwardly toward the downwardly opening sleeve portions 34 of the clamp element 18 and which are complementary therewith to form substantially cylindrical leg-receiving sockets. Preferably, but not necessarily, the semi-cylindrical sleeve elements 44 include upwardly extending, friction increasing prongs 46 which will penetrate the outer surface of the legs 12 disposed in the cylindrical socket formed between the cooperating elements 34 and 44.

The force transmitting assembly 22, in this exemplary embodiment, comprises a wing nut-and-bolt assembly including a threaded shank 48 integral with a domed head 50 having formed therebeneath a rectangular enlargement 52 received in the rectangular aperture 32 in the bottom wall 30 of the upper clamping element 18. As clearly seen in FIG. 4, for example, the bolt is received in the bore or socket 26 and rests on the upper surface of the bottom wall 30 of the clamping element 18. The threaded shank 48 projects through the aperture 42 in the bottom wall 40 of the lower clamping element 20. A suitable washer element 54 engages the undersurface of the bottom wall 40 of the clamping element 20 and a manuallyoperable wing nut 56 is engaged on the threaded shank 48 accordingly drawing the semi-cylindrical sleeve portions 34 and 44 together to frictionally and grippingly engage terminal ends of the leg elements 12.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and that the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification.

What is claimed is: 1. A support stand fixture comprising: upper and lower clamp elements; and force transmitting means operatively connected between said clamp elements, said upper clamp element including a central socket having a lower portion, and a plurality of downwardly angled and downwardly opening sleeve elements, said lower clamp element including a central portion received on the lower portion of the sleeve portion of said upper clamp element, said lower clamp element including downwardly angled, upwardly opening sleeve elements forming with said sleeve elements of said upper clamp element downwardly angled sockets for frictionally receiving and clamping leg elements therein, when urged toward each other by said force transmitting means, said central socket including a lower hollow shaft, said sleeve elements of said upper clamp element being spaced above an opening toward said hollow shaft, said central portion of said lower clamp element comprising a bore portion telescopically received on said hollow shaft, said shaft and bore portions including vertically spaced,

apertured bottom wall portions, said force transmitting means comprising a nut-andbolt assembly interconnecting said wall portions.

2. The structure as claimed in claim 1 in which said central socket includes an upwardly opening and diverging bore portion for receiving the terminal end of a rod, shaft or tree trunk therein.

3. The structure as claimed in claim 1 in which the aperture in the bottom wall of said upper clamp element is polygonal, said nut-and-bolt assembly includes a bolt having a polygonal portion complementary to said polygonal aperture and restraining said bolt against rotation.

4. The structure as claimed in claim 1 in which said sleeve elements are generally semi-cylindrical.

5. The structure as claimed in claim 1 in which certain of said sleeve elements include portions for increasing the clamped engagement on a leg element disposed between said sleeve elements.

6. The structure as claimed in claim 5 in which said last mentioned portions comprise a sharpened prong.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 165,717 7/1875 Doremus 248188.7 1,496,465 6/1924 Jackson 248-165 2,815,801 12/1957 Fingerhut et al 248-188 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner F. DONOTOR, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 248188.7 

